escape . He could hear it now : the door opening , the thing scrambling across the floor of the house in pursuit of him , its hands tearing through the furniture when its ungodly speed wouldn ' t let it move around .
Its hands . Dear God , its hands ! Ern shook his head as the memory of the sight hit him on his way up to the second floor . It had almost looked human . White skin , five fingers with a fingernail on each . But it was only almost human . There were too many knuckles , and the skin was too pale . The fingers had been too long and had had too many joints , and the flesh over them had seemed too small and stretched over the bones . Whatever body was connected to that hand through an arm , it was something Ern didn ' t want to see .
Ern made it to his bedroom and could hear the creature at the foot of the steps behind him . He slammed the door and realized too late that it didn ' t have a lock . Panicking , he hurriedly looked over the room , and found the chair he ' d been sitting in earlier in front of the window . He grabbed the wooden chair in one hand and jammed its top rail under the door handle . Immediately there was a pounding on the other side of the door , twice as furious as before . What little moonlight managed to slip in through the window curtain seemed to ripple as the wood trembled . The chair managed to hold , but the doorknob shook to the point where Ern though it might come off .
Then , in the midst of the creature ' s frenzied attempt to enter , Ern heard it .
“ Ernie ,” said a soft voice from behind the door , audible over the din . “ Ernest , let me in .”
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